5 important things happening in South Africa today
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
Smart meters to move forward: Eskom’s plan to remotely control household electricity consumption is gaining momentum, with the utility successfully implementing a pilot programme in Fourways and looking to expand the installation of smart meters across the country, allowing the utility to remotely manage household electricity demand. This was revealed in Eskom’s State of the System briefing on Wednesday, where the utility outlined its plans to reduce load-shedding in the coming months. [Daily Investor]
Kusile trade-off: Kusile will return to service faster than expected. Eskom’s Bheki Nxumalo, at a media briefing, said that the three Kusile units are now ready for commissioning. However, this was only achievable because Minister Barbara Creecy has dismissed an appeal against her decision to allow Eskom to bypass pollution controls at Kusile, leaving concerns over exposure to sulphur dioxide pollution linked to respiratory illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis. Ramokgopa said that Eskom has submitted a health mitigation plan, but civil society groups – groundWork and Vukani – are still reviewing the mitigation report. [News24]
Smoke and mirrors SOE bill: A new bill proposes moving some state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under a single holding company instead of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), but does not specify which ones or the criteria for doing so. Important SOEs like Eskom and Transnet, as well as unprofitable ones like Denel and SABC, are not addressed, indicating the ANC still wants line-ministry control. Critics say the bill is rushed and poorly drafted, with no clarity on policy architecture for SOEs and a lack of capacity systemwide. [Financial Mail]
The next Eskom-level crisis: Experts are warning that the Joburg water crisis is early signs likened to those experienced in 2007 when load shedding started – meaning if the issues aren’t addressed with urgency, Joburg water could fall into the same position as Eskom is sitting in right now. There are about 4,190 pipe bursts a month, according to Johannesburg Water, the entity that runs the 10,957km water system. The entity said its infrastructure backlog is R20 billion and counting. [Daily Maverick]
Markets: The South African rand extended losses on Wednesday after tumbling the day before on the back of soaring U.S. Treasury yields. The rand lost nearly 1.7% against the greenback at one point on the back of a surge in U.S. Treasury yields as investors turned away from riskier assets. On Thursday (28 September), the rand was trading at R19.17/USD, R20.14/EUR and R23.27/GBP. Oil is trading at $97.33 a barrel. [Reuters]
Loading ...